Switching current distributions of an Nb/Al-AlO2/Nb Josephson junction are measured in a temperature range from 25 mK to 800 mK. We analyse the phase escape properties by using the theory of Larkin and Ovchinnikov （L...Switching current distributions of an Nb/Al-AlO2/Nb Josephson junction are measured in a temperature range from 25 mK to 800 mK. We analyse the phase escape properties by using the theory of Larkin and Ovchinnikov （LO） which takes discrete energy levels into account. Our results show that the phase escape can be well described by the LO approach for temperatures near and below the crossover from thermal activation to macroscopic quantum tunneling. These results are helpful for further study of macroscopic quantum phenomena in Josephson junctions where discrete energy levels need to be considered.展开更多
基金Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos.10534060 and 10874231)National Basic Research Program of China (Grant Nos.2006CB601007,2006CB921107,and 2009CB929102)
文摘Switching current distributions of an Nb/Al-AlO2/Nb Josephson junction are measured in a temperature range from 25 mK to 800 mK. We analyse the phase escape properties by using the theory of Larkin and Ovchinnikov （LO） which takes discrete energy levels into account. Our results show that the phase escape can be well described by the LO approach for temperatures near and below the crossover from thermal activation to macroscopic quantum tunneling. These results are helpful for further study of macroscopic quantum phenomena in Josephson junctions where discrete energy levels need to be considered.
